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Staves (Origins)
Staves are the two-handed weapons of choice for mages. Each staff has a weak, long range default attack that costs no mana. Below is a list of significant staves found in-game. Staves always hit (though it can miss if targets have "chance to dodge attack" properties, e.g. Evasion), but never hit critically. Staves are always made from metals for the purposes of their statistics, though some of the textures for them give them the appearance of wood, such as Morrigan's starting Magic Staff or the Oak Branch. Calculating damage Staff damage formula Staff damage is directly influenced by spellpower: StaffDamage = BaseDamage + Spellpower * 0.25 * StaffFocusAdjustment * (1 + damageBonus) * Rand(0.75:1) BaseDamage * The damage number listed in the staff's description, e.g., for Acolyte's Staff BaseDamage would be 4.00 spellpower * The mage's base spellpower is the value of the magic attribute minus 10. Therefore, it is modified not only by +X spellpower effects but also by +X magic effects. Each staff also has a spellpower value which is added to the mage's spellpower. * The current total spellpower (including all modifiers from the staff, other equipment and spell effects) is displayed on the lower left side of the character screen below the defense value. StaffFocusAdjustment * 1.0 without Staff Focus * 4/3 (~1.33) with Staff Focus DamageBonus This variable depends on the damage type of the staff: * Fire: 0.2 * Ice (Cold): 0.15 * Cold: 0.1 * Lightning (Electricity): 0.1 * Poison (Nature): 0.15 * Physical: 0.0 While there are two possibilities for cold damage, all staves in the base game and DLCs use the 0.15 multiplier. Rand As with attribute bonuses for other weapons, the spellpower component is multiplied by a random number. For staves, it is in the range 0.75:1 (average 0.875). Here on the Dragon Age Wiki, the damage type of a staff is listed in parentheses next to the damage value in its description. The only method to determine it during normal gameplay is by looking at the damage colour during combat. See notes section for more information. Elemental modifiers The following only affects staves that deal elemental damage, i.e. fire, cold, nature or electricity (there is currently no staff that deals spirit damage). Elemental damage modifiers If the staff inflicts elemental damage then gear boosting that type of damage will boost staff damage as well up to a maximum of +30%, e.g., for a staff dealing cold damage, with the maximum cold damage bonus of +30%, multiply the Staffdamage (as calculated per the formula above) by 1.3. Elemental resistance modifiers Spells such as Vulnerability Hex and Affliction Hex will also increase your total damage with an elemental staff by decreasing the enemies resistance to elemental damage by up to 100%. This can provide another StaffDamage multiplier of up to 2 (at -100% resistance). So for elemental staves the formula would be ElementalStaffDamage = StaffDamage * ElementalDamageModifier * ElementalResistanceModifier So, if you want extremely high staff damage in the 100s then high spellpower (Spell Wisp, Spell Might, and Stone Aura), and an elemental staff with hexes are the way to go. Example If the character has Staff Focus and equips Wintersbreath and other items that provide the maximum +30% cold damage modifier, and the target is fully debuffed with -100% cold resistance, the elemental damage multiplier would be 1.3 and the elemental resistance multiplier would be 2. Combining the 2 above formulas, the staff's average damage would then be Damage = (6.4 + spellpower * 0.25 * 4/3 * 1.15 * 0.875) * 1.3 * 2 or (shortened) Damage = 16.64 + spellpower * 0.872 Example spellpower/Damage values: * 50 spellpower: 60 damage * 100 spellpower: 104 damage * 150 spellpower: 147 damage * 170 spellpower: 165 damage Other Class Talents Several other classes have Talents that can increase staff damage as well. Particularly Stone Aura (+3 staff base damage) and Mark of Death (+20% to final damage). Properties Scaling PC }} Consoles }} Staves Dragon Age: Origins }} Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening }} Leliana's Song }} The Darkspawn Chronicles }} Notes Damage type determination There is no information in a staff's in-game description about the type of damage it does. Therefore, as mentioned above, the only method to determine the damage type during normal gameplay is by looking at the colour of the damage numbers during combat and comparing them to the damage colour glossary. On the it is possible to verify the damage type of the Origins staves with the use of the toolset. You can look them up in the palette window under the item tab (small sword icon) in the following folder: _GLOBAL / Weapons, Mage / Staves Some staves might not be in that list, check the individual quest folders under the items tab such as Background - Human and Elf Mage (Valor's Staff), etc. If you open a local copy of the staff (by right clicking and selecting "open local copy" from the menu), then open "Variables" (last entry in the "Attributes" section), the value under the PROJECTILE_OVERRIDE entry will indicate the damage type: * no value = physical damage * 125 = fire damage * 126 = cold damage * 128 = electricity damage * 129 = nature damage Category:Dragon Age: Origins weapons Category:Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening weapons Category:Dragon Age: Origins staves Category:Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening staves Category:Staves